1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image building apparatus of the type including a platen roller and a recording head in which a required image is built on printing medium by transferring coloring agent on an ink donor medium and printing medium which are interposed between the recording head and the platen roller, and more particularly to improvement of or relating to an image building apparatus of the abovementioned type which assures that the apparatus is constructed in smaller dimensions particularly in height.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a typical conventional image building apparatus of the above-mentioned type a thermal transfer type printer is widely known. The conventional thermal transfer type printer is usually so constructed that the recording head is designed in the form of a thermal head and a strip of ink ribbon with thermaly fusible or sublimable ink coated thereon is used as ink donor medium.
In the thermal transfer type printer, the middle part of an ink ribbon of which both ends are wound about a pair of cores is interposed between the platen roller and the thermal head and paper is held between the ink ribbon and the platen roller. A required image is built on paper by transferring ink on the ink ribbon onto paper with the aid of the thermal head which comprises a number of heating elements adapted to be heated in response to image information while the above-mentioned positional state is maintained.
Some of the conventional thermal transfer type printers are so constructed that both ink ribbon and cores are accommodated in a case in the form of a ribbon cassette for the purpose of facilitating replacement of a used ink ribbon with a new one.
In the conventional printer of the above-mentioned type, the platen roller is disposed at the position located outwardly of the ribbon cassette. This leads to a necessity for separate spaces for the ribbon cassette and the platen roller, resulting in the printer being designed in larger dimensions.
Further, in the conventional apparatus fitting or removing of the cassette is achieved while it is supported from the surrounding part of the housing of the apparatus. This causes supporting and guilding members to be designed larger than the cassette and therefore the apparatus fails to be constructed in smaller dimensions.
In the case where the apparatus is operated with the use of dry batteries or a regular battery there is a necessity for space in which dry batterries or a regular battery is accommodated in addition to space for accommodating the cassette. This is another problem from the viewpoint of designing the apparatus in smaller dimensions.